26. Catch The Light

It was a small silent beach, surrounded by palms washed by even greener and more pristine waters. The waves beautifully hit a rock formation which seemed like a turtle's head. Isabella pointed there and they approached. Richard asked:
- "Does it only look like a turtle head?" - Isabella answered:
- "Only in the high tide. On lower tide, its shell is revealed."
- "Oh I see! Let's hope I get to see this!"
- "Let's hope we don't take that long!" - Isabella looked at the others - "so, we reached the rock, we see the waves, let's see what we can find here!" - and so they did. Caoilainn walked slowly to the edge of the rock and there she said:
- "I think I already found it" - the others approached her - "take a look" - Caoilainn pointed at a peculiar structure of brown roots, which had colorful patches. Richard said:
- "Those look different from the other roots we saw."
- "They not only look different, they are" - replied Caoilainn - "these are roots of the same type, but they have many impurities." - she touched her chin - "so, to solve this we will need two process, albedo to remove the impurities and nigredo to dissolve the roots. Albedo gets pretty strong in the sun, so I might as well start right now."

They gave her space and Caoilainn slowly positioned herself with her staff to execute the albedo. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and her fingers shined as the impurities started to disappear, leaving the roots with their brownish color. She said:
- "Well, I guess we should wait for the night. These roots are not so strong, so a bit of moonlight should be enough." - saying that, the others relaxed. Caoilainn slowly used her staff to get up. However, much to her dismay, as she finished getting up, she noticed the colored patches returning to the roots. She said: - "Guys, that's bad. The patches are back. I'm not sure what happened." - Isabella said:
- "Maybe you should try again."
- "Hm" - she sighed - "okay, I will." - Caoilainn knelt on the ground again and tried two more times, doing more effort and taking longer, but the results were the same. The colored patches returned in a minute. - "I'm tired of this!" - she got up and found a place on the sand to sit down and relax. Isabella said:
- "Well, it's up to us to think, let her rest." - Mazanlold replied:
- "Well, these riddles I leave for you three. I will take a look around" - so he left. Richard said:
- "Well, it's up to us two." - he touched his glasses - "so, let's take it from the top. We see the waves, the rock and we are in Delfinifled."
- "That's right" - Isabella replied - "and maybe the glance and the clock refer to light, right?"
- "Yes, I think so." - he smiled - "If those processes are amplified by sunlight and moonlight, all falls into place!" - he closed his right fist and set it on his left palm.
- "However" - Isabella touched her chin - "that means we should have the solution already..."
- "But we don't! Why?" - Richard paused - "maybe... we need to do albedo and nigredo at the same time..."
- "They depend on sun and moon, so that's impossible" - Isabella crossed her arms. Richard took some time to think. Then, he asked:
- "Isabella, can you give me the other paper?"
- "Sure!" - she gave him the paper which had the partial alchemic circle. Richard turned it around and looked at it. When the sunlight hit the paper directly, Richard could see some symbols showed up. They looked like the letter 'H' and a plus '+' symbol. Richard smiled and took some more time to think before saying:
- "I have and idea. Let's go to Caoilainn!" - Isabella consented, happily.

They calmly approached Caoilainn who was absorbed by the splendor of the sea. Richard sat down next to her and asked:
- "Caoilainn, let me ask you a question." - he looked at her - "do you know any transmutation to create some kind of acid?" - she looked at him:
- "Are you sure it will be useful?" - she crossed her arms. Richard never saw her like this and said hesitating:
- "Well, I have a hint from my world... when I looked at this circle in the sun, it showed H+ symbols, which represent acids in my world." - he paused - "maybe acid will reveal something in this paper." - Caoilainn kept her arms crossed. Isabella intervened:
- "Well, I've learned to use acid to hide messages on paper. So it's a thing."
- "Okay, I will do it. I just need some seawater and two bottles." - Caoilainn replied. Richard got the bottles from his bag and Isabella collected the seawater. They brought the materials to Caoilainn, who drew a circle on the sand and did the transmutation. In a matter of seconds, the seawater disappeared and the bottles were filled. - "Be careful, you two. The left bottle has the acid and the right one has caustic soda."
- "As I expected" - said Richard smiling - "I will dissolve it a bit before using." - Richard took some sea water to mix with the bottles. Then, he sprayed a bit of the acid on the paper. In a matter of seconds, some blue paint started to show on the paper, closing the circle. Richard took it to Caoilainn - "take a look."
- "Wow!" - Caoilainn said - "the circle is complete! We need some quartz, basil and the sun!" - Caoilainn took the bag and grabbed quickly grabbed the materials. - "Richard, take a look" - she drew the circle on the sand and started another transmutation. Before their eyes, the pink rough quartz turned into a yellowish polished gem. Caoilainn took it and gave it to Richard, who said:
- "Wow! It's warm!" - Isabella also touched the gem.
- "I think I know that it does" - Caoilainn stood up quickly, but still in pain, and rushed to the rock, followed by Isabella and Richard. She asked for a cloth to cover the roots, protecting them from sunlight. Then, she knelt to do the albedo, but instead of using the sun, she used the gem. The transmutation was successful, but again the colored patches returned. - "That's fantastic!" - she stood up again - "This gem stores the power of sunlight!" - Richard smiled:
- "So, maybe we can use it to perform albedo at night! So, we can do albedo and nigredo in sequence! This is the glance of the clock!"
- "Exactly! This should be the solution!" - Isabella said:
- "That's good to hear. I will tell Mazanlold and we can wait for the night" - she turned to Caoilainn - "Can you hold on until then?"
- "To solve this? Yes, of course!" - even in pain, Caoilainn returned to her usual cheerful state. And so, they waited for night.

As the night fell, Isabella approached Caoilainn and Richard, who seemed absorbed in some chat:
- "Hey you two, are you ready?" - as she said that, light appeared in Caoilainn's fingers, another transmutation. In an instant, Caoilainn gave Isabella a pale blue gem, which she picked up - "it's so cold!"
- "Yes! It has the power of the moon, isn't it amazing?!"
- "Wow, what did you do?" - inquired Isabella.
- "Well" - Richard replied - "we did the opposite process. We put come caustic soda on the paper which revealed some paint, forming another circle. Then, again with quartz and basil, Caoilainn was able to transmute another gem, this one with the power of the moon."
- "Now, both albedo and nigredo are at our fingers reach!" - she stood up - "Isn't this Jacques guy amazing?" - she felt pain and sighed.
- "Yes, but don't overdo yourself Caoilainn" - Isabella said - "well, let's get it going so we can have some good rest today" - Isabella called Mazanlold and they went to the rock. Now, the Turtle Rock's shell was revealed by the low tide, and that made Caoilainn's life a little more comfortable. She did her usual ritual, kneeling and using her staff as support and catalyst. Her fingers shined in two steps, as the colored patches disappeared and the roots dissolved, with her magic and the light of the sun and moon gems. With a hole open, Caoilainn picked up a chest and opened it in front of the others. There, was a bottle with a message and a pink glistening crystal. Caoilainn quickly tasted it and Richard said:
- "Caoilainn, take care!" - she laughed and said:
- "Don't worry! This is salt! Pure salt! Another part of the Tria Prima, our path is opening up!" - Mazanlold laughed a little:
- "Good job guys, really cool to see you knowing all these crazy things" - Caoilainn smiled satisfied. Isabella said:
- "Well, let's return! We had success today comrades, and it's high time we get some rest." - and so they went.

The four returned through the palm trail, giving some help to Caoilainn. At the inn, they had some dinner and got a nice room, featuring a living room, a bedroom with four beds and a plain balcony with a view to the sea. Isabella took care of Caoilainn and they went to sleep after an eventful but successful day.